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The Bebop Years
:Album Description:Hawkins reached a new level of creativity during the 1940's. THis box-set focuses on those yeard, presenting the original master of the tenor sax in a wide variety of settings, including his encounters with young modernists like Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk. 88 tracks in all. Includes 56 page booklet containing the full Hawkins story, rare photographs and discography. 2000 release. 4 standard jewel cases housed together in a deluxe slipcase.
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The Mel Tormé Collection
: :Mel Torme has always resented his famous nickname, 'The Velvet Fog,' not because it's inaccurate, but because it only captures one small aspect of his music-making. He does have a velvety baritone that creates a breathy intimacy on certain romantic ballads. But he has done much, much more in a 67-year professional career that began when he was a four-year-old novelty singer for Chicago's Coon-Sanders Nighthawk Band in 1929 and continues today as the last of the great pre-rock crooners whose voice is still in good shape. That career is nicely ...
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Forty Years: The Artistry of Tony Bennett
: :Tony Bennett's commercial renaissance, complete with MTV Unplugged appearance, hadn't yet peaked when this four-CD set appeared in 1991. Forty Years, however, makes clear just why Bennett's comeback was so richly deserved: from early hits such as 'I Left My Heart in San Francisco' and his version of Hank Williams's 'Cold, Cold Heart' to late-life triumphs such as 'When Do the Bells Ring for Me,' this is a testament to the singer's verve and unstinting good taste. --Rickey Wright
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Sax for Lovers
: :Tony Bennett's commercial renaissance, complete with MTV Unplugged appearance, hadn't yet peaked when this four-CD set appeared in 1991. Forty Years, however, makes clear just why Bennett's comeback was so richly deserved: from early hits such as 'I Left My Heart in San Francisco' and his version of Hank Williams's 'Cold, Cold Heart' to late-life triumphs such as 'When Do the Bells Ring for Me,' this is a testament to the singer's verve and unstinting good taste. --Rickey Wright
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The Savoy Years and More
: :Like almost every single album bearing the name and inimitable voice of this rare jazz treasure, this reissue covering Jimmy Scott's on-again, off-again relationship with Savoy Records has both its highlights and its low points. Of course, no amount of treachery or ineptitude has ever muffled Scott's long-lined, behind-the-beat ballad singing, which often sounds like a woman's. His is an absolutely original voice and one of the most ambrosial acquired tastes in all of jazz history. Recorded mostly in the 1950s and early '60s, this set showcases Scott in his prime, ...
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50 by Bobby Short
: :Like almost every single album bearing the name and inimitable voice of this rare jazz treasure, this reissue covering Jimmy Scott's on-again, off-again relationship with Savoy Records has both its highlights and its low points. Of course, no amount of treachery or ineptitude has ever muffled Scott's long-lined, behind-the-beat ballad singing, which often sounds like a woman's. His is an absolutely original voice and one of the most ambrosial acquired tastes in all of jazz history. Recorded mostly in the 1950s and early '60s, this set showcases Scott in his prime, ...
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Retrospective
: :Horace Silver might tout Bud Powell as an early--and even decisive--influence. Silver might even sound a bit bullish on Bud, especially on his debut recording, a rare trio date that foreshadows lots of the physically demanding piano the younger ivory tickler came to exercise throughout the 1950s and 1960s. But over the course of its four CDs, Retrospective goes well beyond Bud. You hear Silver and Art Blakey kick-starting hard bop with their strong melodies and minimized bebop stair climbs. The music becomes quickly rhythmic, a churning funnel of energy that ...
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The Complete Cole Porter Songbooks
: :It's rare that a great tunesmith is also a great lyricist, but Porter was both, and the formal perfection of his best songs made them favorites among both singers and instrumentalists. These three discs (two vocal, one instrumental) raid the archives for renditions by jazz types (from Ella Fitzgerald to Roland Kirk), more straightforward pop singers, and a few ringers, like Fred Astaire, who does nicely by 'I Concentrate on You.' The singers love Porter for the depth, wittiness, and just-repressed-enough sentimentality of his lyrics, and for the melodies clustered around ...
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Guitar Virtuoso
: :Guitar Virtuoso distills the work Joe Pass did for Pablo records and producer Norman Granz between 1973 and 1992 into one terrific 4 CD package. Disc one culls some of his finest solo studio performances. Disc two places him in small group studio contexts, including duets with guitarist Herb Ellis, a trio with Oscar Peterson on piano and Ray Brown on bass, and a quartet with Duke Ellington on piano, Brown on bass, and Louis Bellson on drums. Disc three consists of live solo and group performances. Disc four features Pass ...
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Frank Sinatra ~ The V-Discs ~ Years: 1943-1947 ~ Columbia ~ Two Volume Set
: :Guitar Virtuoso distills the work Joe Pass did for Pablo records and producer Norman Granz between 1973 and 1992 into one terrific 4 CD package. Disc one culls some of his finest solo studio performances. Disc two places him in small group studio contexts, including duets with guitarist Herb Ellis, a trio with Oscar Peterson on piano and Ray Brown on bass, and a quartet with Duke Ellington on piano, Brown on bass, and Louis Bellson on drums. Disc three consists of live solo and group performances. Disc four features Pass ...
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